Haitian government warns public of cholera risk

SANTO DOMINGO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Haiti's government Monday called on the public to act against cholera infections especially in the capital Port-au-Prince where one fourth of all cholera cases have occurred, local media said.

"Even though we do not have new reports of deaths, cholera is always latent," said Brignol Boulin, head of the Health Ministry's Preventive Attention Department in West Department, where the capital is located.

Boulin urged practicing good hygiene and following the sanitary measures established when a cholera epidemic first gripped Haiti almost three years ago.

On Monday, the government presented a new plan to prevent the spread of cholera, mobilizing some 50 healthcare workers in a campaign to raise the public's awareness of the disease.

Since cholera first broke out in October 2010, some 8,053 Haitians have died of the disease and 651,250 have been infected despite great government efforts to control its spread.

Clean water is not easily available throughout Haiti, a poor country with little infrastructure that was further weakened by a devastating earthquake in 2010.

Up to May 5, 166,460 cholera patients were registered in Port-au-Prince, of which 1,705 died, according to Helman Ceneus, coordinator of the government's new prevention plan.

Ceneus said the warning should be taken seriously because cholera tends to spread more quickly during the rainy season, which begins in May.

Cholera, a disease caused by the Vibrio cholerae bacteria, is not fatal if treated in time and can be prevented by following proper sanitary guidelines.